lead the pentagon out of afghanistan, lead our military into redefining itself as to what does it do? why do you serve in the post-post-9/11 era? second, lead the country in more defense spending cuts, which is coming. and third thing is really to lead the nation through a discussion of what's our military for in the post-post-9/11 era? what's the role of counterterrorism? what are the limits of counterterrorism? what are we doing in asia? how do we work with our allies in china and asia? where has the pentagon taken powers that maybe need to go back to the civilian agencies? those are three enormous jobs that require you to work well with congress, to work well with the defense industry, to be trusted with our men and women in uniform and to have a really close relationship with the president. that's a big job description. >> so if we paint this sort of job description as guiding the pentagon through that period, it sounds like reimagining. how do you see the strengths and weakness of the front runners? >> the first thing to say about senator hagel is he clearly has a very strong